Rules in the Game of Living

Good writers are able to put together words in such a way as to convey a wealth of meaning in a few short sounds. Trevor Hampel shows us the example of Ernest Hemingway, who wrote a complete story in only six words.

For sale. Baby shoes. Never worn.

Other example’s include Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for their’s is the Kingdom of Heaven contains an entire philosophy of life and the practice that can lead to inner peace. Patanjali’s Yoga is the hindering of the modifications of the mind does the same thing in telling us how to meditate, and the illumination to which it leads.

Good writing that is this condensed is difficult, for both the writer and the reader. Time and effort is required from both parties. Time and effort that is well spent, for it changes the reader and the writer.

I’m not that good a writer. Someday I will be, but until then I study the writing of people who are. Once such piece of writing I’ve found is the Ten Rules for Being Human. These were first referenced in Chicken Soup for the Soul by by Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen, where they were attributed to Anonymous. In If Life is a Game These are the Rules Dr. Chérie Carter Scott claimed authorship and talked in depth about them. We may agree or disagree with any of these, but they contain a wealth of food for thought and growth.

Ten Rules for Being Human
by Chérie Carter Scott

1. You will receive a body. You may like it or hate it, but it’s yours to keep for the entire period.
2. You will learn lessons. You are enrolled in a full-time informal school called, “life.”
3. There are no mistakes, only lessons. Growth is a process of trial, error, and experimentation. The “failed” experiments are as much a part of the process as the experiments that ultimately “work.”
4. Lessons are repeated until they are learned. A lesson will be presented to you in various forms until you have learned it. When you have learned it, you can go on to the next lesson.
5. Learning lessons does not end. There’s no part of life that doesn’t contain its lessons. If you’re alive, that means there are still lessons to be learned.
6. “There” is no better a place than “here.” When your “there” has become a “here”, you will simply obtain another “there” that will again look better than “here.”
7. Other people are merely mirrors of you. You cannot love or hate something about another person unless it reflects to you something you love or hate about yourself.
8. What you make of your life is up to you. You have all the tools and resources you need. What you do with them is up to you. The choice is yours.
9. Your answers lie within you. The answers to life’s questions lie within you. All you need to do is look, listen, and trust.
10. You will forget all this.

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